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Burton Middle School

Public Grades 6-8
875th
SchoolDigger Rank ?
of 890 Michigan Middle Schools
Better than 2% of Michigan middle schools
Summary

Burton Middle School is a public middle school located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, serving 444 students in grades 6-8. The school is part of the Grand Rapids Public Schools district, which is ranked 462 out of 613 districts in the state.

Burton Middle School consistently ranks among the lowest-performing middle schools in Michigan, with academic performance significantly below the state and district averages across all subject areas and grade levels. For example, in 2024-2025, only 3.8% of 6th-grade students were proficient or better in English Language Arts, compared to 38.6% statewide and 24.8% in the Grand Rapids Public Schools district. The school's performance on the PSAT exam is also very low, with only 25.3% of 8th-grade students proficient or better in English Language Arts and 4.22% in Mathematics in 2024-2025. Additionally, Burton Middle School has consistently high chronic absenteeism rates, ranging from 29.5% to 47.0% over the past few years, which is significantly higher than the state and district averages.

While the nearby schools, such as Westwood Middle School, Grand Rapids Public Museum Middle, and Alger Middle School, also perform poorly compared to the state average, they generally outperform Burton Middle School in academic metrics. In contrast, East Grand Rapids Middle School, which is in a different district, stands out as a high-performing school, with significantly higher academic proficiency rates across all subjects and grade levels.

488
Students ?
19.1
Student/teacher ratio ?
$20,581
Per pupil spending ?
77.9%
Free/discounted lunch ?
 2133 Buchanan Ave SW
       Grand Rapids, MI  49507-2967

(616) 819-2269

District: Grand Rapids Public Schools


Students who attend Burton Middle School usually attend:

High:    City High Middle School
    Grand Rapids University Preparatory Academy
    Innovation Central High
    Union High School

Feeder schools for Burton Middle School:

Elementary:    Buchanan Elementary
    Burton Elementary
    Cesar E Chavez Elementary
    Southwest Elementary Academia Bilingue
Racial breakdown:

Hispanic:
73.4%
African American:
21.9%
White:
2.7%
more
 See top rated Michigan middle schools

 Compare Burton Middle School to nearby middle schools!
At a glance
Ranking trend: Holding steady — 5th percentile in 2013 → 2nd in 2025
Worth a look
!Test scores below the Michigan average (9% vs 42% meeting standards)
!In the lower quartile statewide (2nd percentile)
!High chronic absenteeism (42% vs 28% Michigan)
Students meeting standards (2024-2025) ?
This school9%
District avg26%
Michigan avg42%
875th of 890
Michigan public middle schools ?
Bottom 2%▼ down 1 pts since 2015
See the entire ranking list of Michigan Middle Schools →
SchoolDigger rating ?
2nd of 5Middle Schools in the Grand Rapids Public Schools
462nd of 613Grand Rapids Public Schools among Michigan districts
Statewide rank percentile over time (100 = the top-ranked school in the state; click a legend item to add a student group)
Show full rank history (all student groups)

All Students

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankMichigan percentileRating
20255.2875 of 8901.7%☆☆☆☆☆
20244.4891 of 8970.7%☆☆☆☆☆
20235.2870 of 8831.5%☆☆☆☆☆
20192.7790 of 7920.3%☆☆☆☆☆
20188.2814 of 8382.9%☆☆☆☆☆
20174.7814 of 8210.9%☆☆☆☆☆
20166.4859 of 8943.9%☆☆☆☆☆
20156.4897 of 9192.4%☆☆☆☆☆
20146.1886 of 9213.8%☆☆☆☆☆
20137.8873 of 9195.0%☆☆☆☆☆
20127.8860 of 9004.4%☆☆☆☆☆
20113.3838 of 8582.3%☆☆☆☆☆
20107.7808 of 8515.1%☆☆☆☆☆
20096.3806 of 8474.8%☆☆☆☆☆
200811.2778 of 8397.3%☆☆☆☆☆
20077.0782 of 8235.0%☆☆☆☆☆
20063.6783 of 8062.9%☆☆☆☆☆

African American

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankMichigan percentileRating
202524.7268 of 33820.7%★☆☆☆☆
201821.1318 of 36613.1%★☆☆☆☆

English Language Learner

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankMichigan percentileRating
20258.3106 of 1060.0%☆☆☆☆☆
201820.6142 of 1547.8%☆☆☆☆☆

Female

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankMichigan percentileRating
20255.0779 of 7891.3%☆☆☆☆☆
20243.7767 of 7710.5%☆☆☆☆☆
20233.5769 of 7700.1%☆☆☆☆☆
20221.7657 of 6570.0%☆☆☆☆☆
20192.0657 of 6580.2%☆☆☆☆☆
20187.7755 of 7944.9%☆☆☆☆☆

Hispanic

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankMichigan percentileRating
20254.2265 of 2650.0%☆☆☆☆☆
20243.9257 of 2570.0%☆☆☆☆☆
20234.9245 of 2460.4%☆☆☆☆☆
20193.5137 of 1370.0%☆☆☆☆☆
20188.6263 of 2661.1%☆☆☆☆☆

Low Socio Economic Status

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankMichigan percentileRating
20255.9821 of 8321.3%☆☆☆☆☆
20244.8829 of 8360.8%☆☆☆☆☆
20236.3808 of 8252.1%☆☆☆☆☆
20192.9670 of 6720.3%☆☆☆☆☆
201810.2769 of 8155.6%☆☆☆☆☆

Male

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankMichigan percentileRating
20253.7793 of 7980.6%☆☆☆☆☆
20234.4769 of 7760.9%☆☆☆☆☆
20192.2638 of 6390.2%☆☆☆☆☆
20188.3765 of 7974.0%☆☆☆☆☆
How student groups rank statewide ? (each group's percentile vs the same group at other schools — higher is better; the +/- beside each compares the group with this school's overall percentile)
African American (2025)21st percentile+19 vs school
Low Socio Economic Status (2025)1st percentile~ school
Female (2025)1st percentile~ school
Male (2025)1st percentile~ school
English Language Learner (2025)<1st percentile~ school
Hispanic (2025)<1st percentile~ school
By subject vs Michigan (2024-2025) ?
Social Studies13%-34 vs state
Science10%-31 vs state
English Language Arts5%-34 vs state
Mathematics4%-26 vs state
Math3%-31 vs state

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Frequently Asked Questions about Burton Middle School

Students at Burton Middle School are 73% Hispanic, 22% African American, 3% White, 1% Two or more races.

Students who attend Burton Middle School usually go on to attend City High Middle School

In the 2024-25 school year, 488 students attended Burton Middle School.

Burton Middle School ranks in the bottom 1.7% of Michigan middle schools.


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SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Michigan Department of Education.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS: Not all boundaries are included. We make every effort to ensure that boundaries are up-to-date. But it's important to note that these are approximations and are for general informational purposes only. To verify legal descriptions of boundaries or school locations, contact your local tax assessor's office and/or school district.





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